Nearly a Foot of Snow Forecast for Portions of the Northeast

A new winter storm is upon us for the Northeast. In our updated article since Monday morning, we have updated our snowfall forecast and discuss more details on the snow.

This evening, light snow is sneaking into western Pennsylvania and New York. This snow will overspread into the remainder of Pennsylvania and Upstate New York during the overnight hours as the Arctic cold front slowly moves through. To the east, a few snow showers are possible in northern New England, which may drop a quick coating to an inch for some areas.

Now as we get into Tuesday, the snow will begin to move toward the Northeast megalopolis. During the morning hours, a band of moderate snow will stretch from Upstate New York through central Pennsylvania and into the Appalachians of Maryland and West Virginia. As we get into the afternoon, we’ll begin to see a very weak coastal storm develop. This weak low pressure may seem innocent, but it’s actually going to be positioned in a very favorable area to produce heavy snow to the Northeast. It will be located in the left-exit region of the jet stream, which is where lift is maximized. It’s also going to pivot in a good dose of moisture into Southern New England from the Atlantic. During the afternoon hours of Tuesday, snow will move into central New England. This includes most of Massachusetts plus southern Vermont and New Hampshire. To the south, snow will sneak into northwestern New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania, although the snow will wait to begin Tuesday night in Philadelphia. This also applies for cities like New York, Boston, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C.. Snow will also persist, falling at a moderate rate with snowfall rates mainly around half an inch per hour, across Upstate and central New York, central Pennsylvania, and the Appalachians.

Then overnight, the entire I-95 corridor will begin to get in on the snow by early Wednesday morning. From the Canadian border southward through Washington, D.C. and even as far south as Columbia, SC, snow is expected along I-95. Snowfall rates will be light for most locations, but mesoscale banding associated with the coastal low is expected across inland Southern New England, and that’s why up to eight inches of snow with localized areas of up to ten inches is forecast for some of these locations. Depending on how much warm air is drawn into the coast, mixing and even rain is possible along the immediate Southern New England coast, especially in Cape Cod, as well as on Long Island.

Then as you wake up on Wednesday, snow will still be falling across most of New England with the heaviest rates at the coast. In the Mid-Atlantic, the back edge of the snow will be situated right along I-95. By Wednesday afternoon, the snow will be over for most locations, although it will continue for a few more hours into the afternoon along the eastern New England coast. Therefore, widespread school delays can be anticipated. Even school closures are possible on Wednesday in the Lower Hudson River Valley and into much of New England, especially central New England.

Jackson is Head of Content at WeatherOptics and produces several forecasts and manages all social media platforms. Previously, Jackson forecasted local weather for southwestern Connecticut, founding his website, Jackson's Weather, in the March of 2015. He is currently studying Meteorology and Broadcast Journalism at the University of Miami.